Thank you both for coming to chat with us today. Why do you think Susan Rae chose you to represent her?Everett: Honestly? She had a golf date. She said something about a league she was in. She’ll probably drop by later, though; I believe she’s off the course by noon. Then I’m heading out there!Kate: She also said she’d already done her job and now it was up to us to tell our story.Well, that makes sense. Why don’t we start by you telling us a little about yourselves?Kate: Not much to tell, really. I’m a computer geek, I guess. I own my own software design company in San Francisco. I’m

currently single—I was married for a few years, but that didn’t go so well. Other than my brother Keith, I’m pretty much on my own. Our parents died in an experimental aircraft accident when we were both very young.Everett: I’m a friend of Keith’s from the war—Afghanistan. I flew choppers in the desert. Keith saved my butt back there when our helicopter was shot down; that’s why I feel need to be here for him now.So this story is about Keith?Everett: In a way, his twin engine Comanche crashed on take-off from Timmerman Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Some say it was an accident, but I have my doubts.Are either of you from Milwaukee?Kate: I am—sort of. I grew up about forty miles southwest of here, in a small town called Sylvan Lake. My dad used to fly out of the airport there. Keith is part owner of the aircraft repair shop now. I moved to San Francisco after college for work, and to make a fresh start. I have no ties here anymore, except for Keith.Everett: I live in New Orleans. I work for an outfit called Sunshine Air. At least that’s my cover—flying site-seeing tours along the coast.Your cover? Everett: Right. I’m a DEA agent. I work out of New Orleans—for obvious reasons. And, as a side note, readers who enjoyed Susan Rae’s first novel, heartbeats might be interested to know that my good friend, FBI agent Drake McGuire returns in freefall to help me out in a tight spot with this investigation. Both books are available from Musa Publishing.com.What do you wish people would know about the two of you?Everett: Frankly, the less they know about me the better. That’s helpful in my line of work.Kate: I‘d like people to know that I’m stronger than I look. So often they take my blond hair and blue eyes for weakness. They have a habit of underestimating me, as do certain men, I might add.Everett: Not any more, sweetheart. I’ve learned my lesson. You’re tough, I’ll give you that; although sometimes a little too tough for your own good.Kate: Really? If memory serves me right, it’s my stubbornness that saves your sorry—Everett: Uh, sweetheart, we can’t tell all that now… Why don’t we just move on.Okay… What is your perfect evening? Kate?Kate: Spreading a blanket on my favorite hill in San Francisco, pouring a glass of wine, then sipping it as I watch the sun set over the bay. I guess that’s why I chose San Francisco to start my new life after college. I’m drawn to the water. Before my parents’ accident, we took vacations in Door County, Wisconsin. In the evenings, we used to sit on the bluffs overlooking Green Bay and watch the sunsets together—or better yet, after a day of sailing, we would pull into an inlet, lower the sails, and marvel at the various shades of purple and gold that painted the sky.Everett: Too bad our little escapade to Door County didn’t end that way.No? How did it end?Everett: I’m not giving that one away; you’ll just have to read the book and see for yourself. I can say, though, that our trip wasn’t all bad; we did manage to spend some quality time at a quaint little B and B…Tell us about Everett, Kate. What drew you to him? Kate: I can’t say exactly. He’s cocky and more than a little arrogant. I figured him for a pilot the first time I saw him—and I don’t do pilots, or cops for that matter, and he’s both. Then there’s the fact that he seemed intent on looking out for me, no matter that I didn’t exactly need looking after. I guess in the end, though, it was his persistence that wore me down. That and those stormy, intense gray eyes of his.Everett: For my part, I was drawn to Kate the minute I saw her—in a photo that is. She was all softness and curves, except for that keen look in her very blue eyes. But, she was Keith’s little sister—and as such, strictly hands-off at the time.What really pushes your buttons?Everett: Liars and cheats. I see all kinds of them in my line of work.Kate: I could say the same—about the liars and cheats, and certain cops I know. Everett, are you forgetting the lies you told me when you got here?Everett: Not lies, Kate, just half-truths. Sometimes it’s a necessary evil of the job.Kate: Oh, please…I notice there is no man or woman on freefall’s cover. That seems unusual for a romance novel. Does that upset you?Kate: No, not at all. Susan Rae and Kelly Shorten, the art director at Musa Publishing, decided to play up the mystery/suspense line of the story, and the setting. I think Kelly did I great job. I love our cover.Everett: For the romance, you’re just going to have to read beneath the cover, so to speak.Then I take it there’s plenty of heat in the story, too?Everett: Let’s just say, you wouldn’t want to underestimate Kate in that department, either.What’s your biggest turn on?Everett: A tough chick who can hold her own in the boardroom as well as in bed, and look sexy as hell while she’s at it.Kate: Men who like tough chicks. (Laughs)What is your biggest fear?Kate: Flying, or rather crashing, in an airplane.Everett: Freefalling, without a parachute… Kind of like falling in love–again.Why would readers be interested in your story?Kate: Because it’s a story about loyalty and love, and how far you would go to protect your family and friends and prove their innocence. It’s about having faith in them, even when all the evidence is pointing in the opposite direction. It’s about trust.Everett: And it doesn’t hurt that part of the story takes place in Door County, Wisconsin–a nice little corner of Heaven on Earth.Kate: Hmmm…yes, there is that.